U.S.S. Hickory — Engine Room
Detailed Involvements
Events with rich location context
The engine room is cited as the site of a raging fire — the mechanical heart of the cutter under threat — converting a communications problem into a life‑threatening technical emergency that demands damage control and immediate skilled action.
Hot, smoky, dangerous; an enclosed source of threat audible in Harold's report.
Source of immediate physical danger that escalates the call from informational to urgent rescue.
Embodies the internal breakdown within the fleet: when the machine that powers the ship fails, human lives hang in the balance.
Restricted to engineering crew; hazardous to enter without protective gear.
The cutter's engine room is described as being on fire and the source of the cutter's failing systems. Its condition drives the emergency: smoke, heat, and failing propulsion/lighting create the immediate danger that the signalman reports and that the White House must respond to if possible.
Hot, smoky, chaotic — an active danger zone below decks threatening crew survival.
Source of the cutter's mechanical failure and imminent hazard requiring damage control and rescue.
Embodies the physical breakdown underlying abstract institutional failure — internal systems burning out.
Restricted to trained engineering crew with firefighting equipment; dangerous to enter without protective gear.
Events at This Location
Everything that happens here
Leo reports that nearly the entire fleet has gone silent and only a small maintenance ship, the USS Hickory, remains reachable. In the Formal Dining Room-turned-briefing room, President Bartlet places …
When the fleet's radios fail and only the little maintenance cutter Hickory can be reached, President Bartlet personally takes a crackling patch-phone call from Signalman Harold Lewis. Harold, injured and …